Sussex Decides: Henry Smith re-elected as Crawley MP

The Conservative team was celebrating victory after the result was confirmed at K2 leisure centre in the early hours of this morning (Friday May 8).

There were cheers and tears as Henry’s name was announced by the Returning Officer.

The results were:

Henry Smith (Con) – 22,829

Chris Oxlade (Lab) – 16,303

Chris Brown (UKIP) – 6,979

Guy Hudson (Green Party) – 1,100

Sarah Osborne (Lib Dem) – 1,339

In what may well be a trend across the county, the UKIP vote is up while the Lib-Dem vote has dropped dramatically.

This was Henry’s second victory over Labour rival Chris Oxlade and followed a comfortable win at the 2010 General Election.

The estimated turnout was 66 per cent, a small rise on 2010’s figure.

Conservative supporters will now turn their attention to the borough election count, which will be held later today, in the hope they have not only secured a seat in Parliament but taken back control of the borough council as well.

See our Sussex Decides Live Blog for news of what’s happening across Sussex and also the shocks and items of interest nationally.